Lou Piniella and Ozzie Guillen - the least popular managers in baseball

What we worry? Lou Piniella and Ozzie Guillen won't be winning any popularity contests with players anytime soon.

For all the controversy over Lou Piniella's role in the abysmal Cubs season so far and the omnipresent mouth of Ozzie Guillen calling out current and former players alike, these are two guys that players want to play for.

The ultimate "players' managers" in a game that respects and demands strong managers that knew how to play the game on the field. Right?

Yeah, not so much.

Sports Illustrated surveyed 380 current Major League Baseball players for the issue on newsstands Tuesday to see which managers they least wanted to play for, and it wasn't a close, umm, win. Twenty-six percent of the responses pointed to Sweet Lou as the most sour excuse for a major league manager, while 21 percent said Ozzie was no great shakes. That put Chicago's skippers tops on the bottom list.

Next closest? Tony La Russa, coming in 16 percentage points better, so to speak, than Piniella with 10 percent of players saying no thanks to playing for the Genius.

Makes you wonder how the poll went in the Cubs and White Sox clubhouses. Is it possible to have 101 percent of the vote go against you?

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10 Comments

WTF, I thought these two meatheads (Kyle and Kevin) not Lou and Ozzie, were a one-hit flub with the Ed Currey home factoid. Someone get in touch with Fran Spielman and have Wonder Woman sensually saunder over to their desks and shoot some bug spray at these two dolts. This ain't news, it ain't sports and it AIN'T funny.

(Fran, aim for their eyes ... RIGHT IN THEIR EYES).

Kyle responds: This is on page 4 of today's Sun-Times. Thanks for your support for reporting a matter of public record with absolutely no editorializing.

Kevin Responds: How exactly does one 'saunder'?

Craig Responds: And there's still no "e" in Curry. Maybe he bought a vowel and could no longer afford the payments?

They are still great managers who demmand their players give it 100% each and every day...So what is wrong with that? Don't each of us have to go to work and do our best every day? Teachers, cops and the rest of us working folks have to show up every day so why not ball players? Heck I would work for Piniella and Ozzie any day. GO WHITE SOX'S! Oh But Piniella would have to work for another team I HATE the Cubs! ;)

Pretty good company if you ask me. The players they asked must not enjoy winning very much either. Between the 5 chew on these numbers, 11 manager of the year awards, 11 pennants, and 10 world series rings.

I suppose Torre earned a lot of his votes when he wrote his Yankee tell-all book, breaking the unwritten rule about clubhouse privacy. I'm sure that made many current MLB players view him very differently.

Feel sorry for the few who are willing to work, want to play the GAME and appreciate the fans. But watch the warm ups and see how many are only doing the minimum. Of course we are to believe that they work harded when not in the public eye. I gave up on the tooth fairy long ago. The best thing that could happen would be if every game was boycotted for a whole season. Then we might be able to return to young, eager and interested players rather than rich retirees, who just haven't told anyone yet.

A bunch of prissy prima donna overpaid millionaires who get to play a kid's game for a living don't like playing for managers who expect their players to show up every day and give 100% and are willing to bench you/call you out if slack ? You don't say??